Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Grammie Camp #3

With a day in between to recover I was excited have the older kids for Grammie Camp. Groups 1 and 2 are between 10 and 14 and they are so much fun. Their lives start getting complicated as they get older. Our oldest grandson Max had just returned from EFY at BYU and Elle had spent the week at tennis camp, also at BYU. I have been combining groups 1 and 2 through the years so this year, we had a little talk about sibling and cousin rivalry before we started as by this time last year, after being together for a whole month there were some small issues but they were great to follow the rules: no crying, not teasing, no whining, no sibling rivalry at Grammie Camp. We had a ball!

Group 1 is Max (14), Ashton (11) and Elle (almost 13).

Group 2 is Aniston (almost 10), Isaac (10) and Grace (10)

The plan was to go to Minetonka Cave, a famous cave in Bear Lake County with a guide who knows all the stalactites and stalagmites like they are his children (knowledge from a previous visit five years earlier). After we climbed the steep uphill road for five miles through spectacular scenery, we found that their was a 90 minute wait. We turned around and decided to go to the Bloomington Cemetery and then find the famous Paris Ice Cave which none of us had ever seen instead.

Once again we scavenged for the graves of our ancestors. This group remembered a lot of what they had learned last year and loved seeing the creek where Grampa Jacobson was baptized about a hundred and two years ago. They love/hate the story of the cousin who many years ago was wrestling with a friend who accidently broke our cousin’s neck and he died.

On to the Paris Ice Caves. A wild place that isn’t very big but sports ice all year round. The kids loved it as our warm flip flops and tennis shoes instantly froze to the ice.

I don’t know how much you can see in the picture below because we were in the shadows and I took this picture with my Iphone 3 but Ashton who was the “king of the hill” scaling the cliff (see above) dropped his flip flop in a hole and it promptly froze there. They are trying to dig it out (below). We thought that it was a gonner but Max, with his long arm managed to rescue it. It was quite a dramatic moment!

From there it was on to a three-year tradition of going to see our favorite melodrama at the Pickleville Playhouse in Garden City. Some of the kids had the DVD memorized from last year and Grace even used one of the vignettes to win an election for treasurer at her elementary school. This year it was called “Who Shot Juanito Bandidto” and we all laughed our heads off, cheered, booed and loved it!

And then it was home to the traditional flour game. By midnight the kids were all pretty punchy but it’s always fun!

Because Aniston was leaving, Grandfather picked up the “sensational six” the next morning at 7 a.m. for a trek to “Single Tree” on the mountain behind the Lighthouse to participate in a new tradition started last year….Grandfather’s Secrets. Details coming in a future post.

They loaded in the truck and had a wild and wonderful , even magical adventure.

Sadly we kissed Aniston good-bye as her family left us. We’ll have fond memories of this fun reunion and the great job Jonah and Aja (Aniston’s parents) have done to make it so fun and memorable for everyone…here’s a final glimpse of cute Group 2 with their flag complete with badges of honor!